Giants plan to bring food from centerfield to table

Published 10:43 pm, Monday, July 29, 2013

Photo: EDG Design Group

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An artists' rendering of the Giants Garden, a 3,000-square-foot organic garden slated to open next season at AT&T Park. Believed to be the first of its kind at an American sports venue, the edible garden will supply produce for some of the parks' concessions and serve as an open-air dining area and community classroom. less

An artists' rendering of the Giants Garden, a 3,000-square-foot organic garden slated to open next season at AT&T Park. Believed to be the first of its kind at an American sports venue, the edible garden will ... more

Photo: EDG Design Group

Image 2 of 2

An artists' rendering of the Giants Garden, a 3,000-square-foot organic garden slated to open next season at AT&T Park. Believed to be the first of its kind at an American sports venue, the edible garden will supply produce for some of the parks' concessions and serve as an open-air dining area and community classroom. less

An artists' rendering of the Giants Garden, a 3,000-square-foot organic garden slated to open next season at AT&T Park. Believed to be the first of its kind at an American sports venue, the edible garden ... more

Photo: EDG Design Group

Giants plan to bring food from centerfield to table

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Come next season, a Buster Posey home run might just be landing in a strawberry patch.

President Obama, who honored the Giants at the White House on Monday for their 2012 World Series championship, also announced the team's plan to construct an edible garden at AT&T Park.

The ambitious project, dubbed the Giants Garden, calls for a 3,000-square-foot organic garden to be planted behind the center-field wall, a space between the left- and right-field bleachers that is now mostly concrete and the area where replacement sod is grown. It would be the first such facility at any professional sports venue in the United States.

Eventually, the garden would be used to supply food for the park's catering operations, and double as an open-air restaurant and community classroom.

"We really wanted to be able to do something that is not just very San Francisco, but a part of today's world," said Larry Baer, Giants president and CEO. "The commitment we're making is to create this garden and use that real estate in a way that's productive. We think it's the perfect solution."

The centerfield-to-table project is a partnership between the Giants and Bon Appetit Management Co., which has operated the high-end concessions in the field and club levels and suites since the ballpark opened in 2000.

Fedele Bauccio, Bon Appetit founder and president, envisions the Giants Garden as a year-round community space, with classes and tours for families and kids in the offseason.

Consider it part of an overarching mission to promote sustainable food and healthy eating habits, a natural continuation of Alice Waters' Edible Schoolyard program, as well as a nod to first lady Michelle Obama's platform of tackling childhood obesity.

"There's so much product we can grow, it's unbelievable," said Bauccio, whose company also owns the Mijita and Public House restaurants at the ballpark. "Kale, strawberries, broccolini, citrus, huckleberry ... . The idea would be for people to sit there and watch the game and eat food from the garden."

Early renderings of the garden include hydroponic troughs, concrete planters and green trellises, or "living walls."

Still to be determined is the nature of the wall that will divide the garden from the field. Major League Baseball rules dictate that the centerfield wall and backdrop must be kept a solid dark color, so as not to interfere with the batter's sightline. Bauccio has been speaking to architects and landscapers about creating a wall that would be transparent from the back side.

The Giants hope to have construction completed in the offseason so the garden would be ready for Opening Day 2014.

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